Back on 28 October, four days after Guido exposed Rachel Reeves for misrepresenting her position at Halifax Bank of Scotland, Guido reached out to a spokesman for the Chancellor to ask a few questions. Guido asked: “When she left, was there any HR process involved about the circumstances of her departure?” A firm “no” came back. Specifically Guido asked: “Can you deny that she was involved in controversy over expenses?“ The reply: “I can deny – absolutely not.“
In mid-November the BBC began its investigation into Reeves’ time at HBOS and it has now revealed that Reeves and two colleagues were the subject of an investigation with regard to abuse of expenses. The Internal Audit department concluded they had broken rules. By the month after the investigation was passed to the internal risk department, Reeves was no longer working at HBOS…
One former HBOS employee tells Guido the expenses situation was a “joke in the office.” Sources numbering in the double figures have confirmed exhaustive details to Billy Kenber and Phil Kemp’s investigation. Reeves’ spokesman’s strong denial is no longer credible in light of the BBC’s revelations. Reeves maintains today:
“No one ever raised any concerns about my expenses when I worked for Halifax Bank of Scotland. I submitted and had my expenses signed off in the proper way, as you would expect. And no issues were ever raised during my time at Halifax Bank of Scotland… I was never questioned, never asked to pay back any expenses.“
That is an incredibly delicate line to take. Peter Kyle falsely claimed there was no investigation this morning. Labour’s blasé treatment of factual reality is an incredibly risky game…
David Lammy was asked on Times Radio if scrapping jury trials would eliminate the court backlog by the next election:
“It won’t be eliminated by the next election. That’s impossible. We just have 84 Crown courts across our country and 500 courtrooms.”